Concrete pump

ABSTRACT

A Concrete Pump is a mechanical device compromising of round funnel shape hoper, Pump outlet, rotating pressure and wear plates, to which are attached rotating pump cylinders, opposite rotating wear plate and press against it is stationary wear plate to which is attached hoper&#39;s outlet and pump&#39;s outlet flange. Pump functioning as follow; Concrete from hoper passing through stationary and rotating wear plates into one pump cylinder, in same time concrete from other cylinder (previously field with concrete) is been pushed through rotating wear plate and through stationary wear plate into pump&#39;s outlet. When pistons reach the end of cylinders the rotating wear plates and concrete cylinders rotate by 180 degrees and process is repeated again. Pump is designated so as to entire volume of concrete or simular pumping substance is pumped out of the hoper.

There are many different concrete pumping designed systems. The mostcommon one is two cylinders Piston Pump. Amongst other components, within existing system, they all have pump cylinders stationed and fastenedto the outside back flat wall of the hoper, somewhat above the hoper'sfloor and aligned inside the hoper thru the same size opening on thehoper forming an alignment inside the hoper with the wear plate, wearring and swing tube which is situated inside the hoper, thru whichconcrete is pumped into the pump's outlet, situated on front of pump'shoper.

I've operated a Concrete Pump for several years. That is hard job withlot of responsibility during pumping, as all that equipment has to becleaned and on hurry as concrete can set hard in short time. It can bealso stressful and nerve braking when things are going wrong and theyoften do. Having more and more cars on the roads and obstacles concretedeliveries are often delayed between trucks and working with concrete islimited to time. I have recognised need for an improved pumping systemto overcome some short falls of existing concrete pumping systems.

For example;

-   -   a) Existing Pumps cannot pump out the entire contents of        concrete delivered into the hoper, meaning that every time up on        completion of pumping there is a volume of concrete left in the        hoper and in the cylinders, usually two wheel barrows and in        some cases more. This concrete then has to be removed manually        and carried away in buckets or in a wheel barrow, to where it's        needed or dispose as wast. The cleaning process usually would        take anything between 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on how        much concrete is built-up in the hoper, cylinders and pipe line,        and what type (strait pumping or shotcreting) and strength of        concrete was pumped and also what air temperature was during        job.    -   b) For the reasons that existing hoper is of uneven shape and it        has a swing tub in it's lower section it is not possible to mix        entire volume of concrete either with motorised Auger or tools        like shovel which is desperately necessary in times when waiting        for next concrete delivery truck, in particular when next        delivery is been delayed on an hot day it is necessary to add        water to concrete in hoper and mix it up to stop it from been        set hard in it and in pipe line as it could result in not be        able to resuming pumping when next delivery is delivered and        entire pipe line could be lost and not been able to finish the        job.    -   c) For inspection, maintenance or replacement of most wearing        parts like, wear plate, wear ring and piston caps, piston's oil        seals, swing tub, swing tub's bearing and seal which are not        easy accessible, would take anything up to 6 hours, due to fact        that very often it is necessary to remove other parts to gain        access to the part that you have to inspect or replace.    -   d) In many instances it is important for the pump operator to        knew what slump of concrete is being delivered into the hoper.        More so for specialised pumping like shot creating. At present        time no concrete pump known to me is fitted with such measuring        devices, no there is such device available for retrofitting.

The problems above are overcome by the present invention.

-   -   Improved Concrete Pump

DESCRIPTION OF THIS INVENTION

Pump in this invention have two rotating pumping cylinders, (cylinder‘a’ and cylinder ‘b’) and funnel like hoper. “6” In this design pumpcylinders are fastened to rotating pressure plate “1” to which on otherside is fastened rotating wear plate “2” and together with exchange boxand hydraulic cylinders rotating clock and anti clock ways by 180degrees. Rotating' wear plate is pressed and sliding against stationarywear plate, “3” which is fastened to stationary pressure plate. “4”Stationary pressure plate is retained on the access gate “5”. One holeof stationary pressure plate (concrete passage way between hoper andconcrete pump charging cylinder) is connected to concrete pump hoper “6”on the other side and trough access gate via flexible ruber pipe “9” andvia 90 degrees metal pipe bend and via flexible joint. “12”. The otherhole of stationary pressure plate (concrete passage way between concretepump discharging cylinder and pump's outlet flange) is connected to thepump's outlet flange “7” on the other side and trough access gate viaflexible tuber pipe “10”.

Access gate is attached to rotating pressure plate's housing “8” withhinges and safety laches. By realising safety laches, the access gatetogether with stationary pressure plate, stationary wear plate, Hoperand pump's outlet swings on hinges away from rotating pressure plate'shousing as mach as 120 degrees, which is very handy in event ofinspection or replacement of wear plates, or piston caps and piston'soil seals.

Hoper is of funnel shape, and concrete slide down to the bottom of thehoper and trough 90 degree is install an removable Auger and inner sideis covered by neoprene ruber to provide better sliding of concrete byforce of gravity to the bottom of hoper and into pump's cylinders.

Hoper is placed on outer side of access gate and connected to top ofninety degrees pipe bend via flexible joint to allow levelling of thehoper when pump is placed on non level ground.

The neoprene ruber pipes are being vulcanised to metal flanges on eachend, and placed between stationary pressure plate and 90 degrees pipebend and between stationary pressure plate and pump's outlet. Theneoprene ruber pipes have two functions; one is to provide flexibleisolation between stationary wear plate and pump's outlet, as well asflexible isolation between stationary wear plate and 90 degrees pipebend. Another function is to pressure stationary pressure and wearplates against rotating wear plate so to seal and prevent leaking ofslurry at time of rotating wear plate is rotating. It is beneficial toprovide additional pressure on stationary wear plate only at the time ofpumping but not when rotating wear plate is rotating. It will minimizewear of wear plates. This is achieved by four small hydraulic rams.

Rotation of rotating wear plate, rotating pressure plate and pumpcylinders is achieved by placement of steel wire rope round rotatingcylinder, “11” and attached to cylinder at half way. Two ends areattached to two hydraulic rams. One hydraulic ram pull the rope androtate the rotating cylinder in one direction by 180 degrees and thanwhen pistons in pump cylinders rich there destination than otherhydraulic ram pull other end of wire rope in other direction and rotaterotating cylinder by 180 degrees in other direction. This sequence isbeing repeated as long as pump is in action. This rotation can also beachieved with bidirectional hydraulic motor trough gears. In that case,instead of wire rope on rotating cylinder would haw to be a gear orsprocket and chain coupled with bidirectional hydraulic motor. It isbeneficial to rotate rotating assembly in same direction all the timeinstead alternate to counter inertia of rotating assembly and havebeneficial use of gravity.

Timing of rotation of rotating cylinder depend precisely on position ofthe pistons in pump. cylinders. For this reason it is necessary to havesome sort of tracking devices to track pistons in pump cylinders andstart rotation of wear plate and pump cylinders, when piston in pumpcylinder reach maximum destination and concrete has been discharged ,and in same time other cylinder has being fully charged with concretefrom hoper, hydraulic pressure in hydraulic rams which drive pistons inpump cylinder is off. When rotation of pump cylinders by 180 degrees iscompleted hydraulic pressure to hydraulic rams which drive the pistonsin pump cylinders is restored, and concrete is flowing again. Thissequence is repeated. In this invention I use system where hall effecttransistor detect passing by magnet. whose movement is same as piston inpump cylinder. The signal is than amplified and used for activatingsolenoids on hydraulic valves.

Pumps sequence is as follow:

When hoper is full of concrete and pump is switched on piston incharging cylinder will start to trowel away from hoper and concrete willflow in cylinder by gravity and suction. When piston is come to the enddetection system will switch off piston and will switch on hydraulicmotor which will rotate rotating assembly by 180 degrease, meaning thatpumps full cylinder mowe to get in line with pumps output, and emptycylinder will become in lien with hoper output. Detection system willswitch rotation off and switch pistons on again. Piston on full cylinderwill push concrete out of pumps outlet and empty cylinder will becomecharged with concrete. This process is repeated until pump is switchedoff.

The benefits of this invention system are multiple.

1) Due to shape and inside contour of hoper, entire volume of concretedelivered in hoper, naturally by force of gravity slide to bottom ofhoper and into pump's cylinder. As a result, all of the concrete isbeing pumped out and there is not dry concrete build up in hoper, duringthe course of the day's work. Cleaning complete pump, hoper, pistons,cylinders, and pump outlet, could not take more than five minutes.

2) Inspection or replacement of fast wearing parts on this invention isvery easy and quick, because of unhindered access and it consist only offour parts. Two wear plates and two piston caps. Time that is needed toreplace all four parts is up to thirty minutes. Drawing “A” E” F” showcross section of major parts of invention. Drawings “B”, “C”, “D” showmajor parts of invention from different angle. (not to scale)

1. A concrete/sludge/pump comprising of two major parts assemblies. Oneis stationary and another rotating assembly. Access gate which isattached to rotating pressure plate's housing by two hinges and twosafety laches on opposite site (it could also have four bolts instead ofsafety laches) have two large holes located centrally on “Y” axis, andnext to each other on X axis with some space between. On inner side ofthe gate (when gate is closed) is retained stationary pressure platewith stationary wearing plate bolted to it. On the outer side, on onelarge hole by four bolts is bolted pump's out late. On the other hole isbolted by four bolts ninety degree pipe bend same inner diameter asinside of the pump cylinders. Between pump out late and stationarypressure plate and between ninety degree band and stationary pressureplate is placed polyurethane tube with inner diameter same as of pumpcylinders. (Polyurethane tubs or any other flexible tubes that canwithstand pressure are necessary to insure that stationary and rotatingware plates are firmly together even when rotating wear plate wobble).Pressure of polyurethane tubes are adjusted by four bolts of pump'soutlet and four bolts of hoper's 90 degrees bend The other end of ninetydegree pipe bend is facing up and it's inner diameter is same as pump'scylinder and same as bottom opening of pump's hoper. The hoper isretained on top of the bend by flaxy joint and some additionalstabilising device. Another assembly of parts called rotating assemblyIt consist of rotating pressure plate which on one side have boltedrotating were plate, and on other side have bolted pump cylinders andchain sprocket. The other ends of pump cylinders are bolted to exchangebox. To other side of exchange box are bolted hydraulic rams, togetherwith pistons position electronic detection system. On the other end ofhydraulic rams is bolted hydraulic live swivel joint which is used toprovide hydraulic pressure from electrically controlled stationaryhydraulic valve to rotating hydraulic rams. The whole rotating assemblyis supported by three ball bearings. The design of outside circumferenceof the rotating pressure plate and inner circumference of pressureplate's housing are together forming dual ball bearing (one to bear lodeof assembly and other to counter forces of hydraulic ram's pressure).The third ball bearing is of similar design and. size bolted to exchangebox and is to bear the lode of the assembly's other end. Bidirectionalhydraulic motor is bolted to rotating pressure plate's housing. Motor ispositioned so that sprocket on its shaft is in line with sprocket boltedto rotating pressure plate. The chain link two sprockets and motor isable to rotate rotating assembly, forward or revers.
 2. A pump asclaimed in clime 1.hawe electronically detected when pump's pistons richfinal destination. Those signals have bin fed to infrared transmitter.Infrared receiver is placed in receiving area and via cable signal isdelivered to control panel. Power to electronics system on rotating areais provided by rechargeable battery Detection of final destination ofrotation assembly is also dun electronically, sensors are placed onstationary part of the pump.
 3. A pump as claimed in clime
 1. havehydraulic power delivered to rotating hydraulic rams via live swiveljoint
 4. A pump as claimed in clime
 1. is easier understood withdrawings A to F of the accompanying drawings.